In computer systems, digital signatures may be used to verify the authenticity of a message or document. Valid digital signatures provide recipients with assurances as to the authenticity and integrity of the message. Digital signatures are employed in a variety of applications, such as in the use of digital communications between multiple parties, as well as in storage and backup systems. Hash based signature schemes such as Merkle signature schemes may be used to generate and verify digital signatures. While the use of Merkle signature scheme to generate digital signatures has several advantages, there are also known drawbacks. For example, each signing key of a Merkle tree is typically allowed to be used to sign one message to preserve security properties of the scheme. After all signings keys have been used, the public key of the Merkle tree are retained to make verification of the digital signatures possible. Over time, it is challenging for a computer system to manage storage and maintenance needs as the number of public keys that the system retains grows.